FOR THE LOVE OF FOOD: Monsanto pays for causing cancer, Roundup found in most oats, and salt proven mostly safe

Welcome to Friday’s For The Love of Food, Summer Tomato’s weekly link roundup.

This week Monsanto pays for causing cancer, Roundup found in most oats, and salt proven mostly safe.

Next week’s Mindful Meal Challenge will start again on Monday. Sign up now to join us!

Too busy to read them all? Try this awesome free speed reading app to read at 300+ wpm. So neat!

I also share links on Twitter @summertomato and the Summer Tomato Facebook page. I’m very active on all these sites and would love to connect with you.

Links of the week

• Jury rules Roundup carcinogenic, Monsanto malicious: awards $289 million to plaintiff – Big news this week: Monsanto has been found accountable for giving a man cancer with its chemical glyphosate (aka Round Up). 1.8 billion pounds of this stuff are used worldwide every year. Certainly Monsanto will appeal, but this is a huge victory for consumers and farm workers. It’s also worth reflecting on the fact that the man who got cancer was the groundskeeper for a school, where kids play. He was spraying 20-30x/year from a 50 gallon drum for 2-3 hours per day. (Food Politics)
• Report Finds Traces of a Controversial Herbicide in Cheerios and Quaker Oats – Man, this is a bummer. Even a significant portion of the organic samples they tested had glyphosate. I eat a lot of oats and don’t know yet what  I’m going to do with this information. (NY Times)
• Food Quality Trumps Variety, Experts Say – Newsflash: If you increase the variety of your food by adding more processed industrial foods, you’re doing it wrong. It’s still important to eat a greater variety of vegetables, grains, seeds, nuts, legumes, fungi, sea plants and animals, animal products, parts and organs for optimal health. You should be even more resourceful if you eat a restricted diet (e.g. vegetarian, gluten-free). (NY Times)
• How to eat mindfully in the real world — and that doesn’t mean distraction-free – Excellent article and perspective on mindful eating. (Washington Post)
• Pass the salt: Study finds average consumption safe for heart health – Another large study adds to the evidence that salt itself doesn’t appear to be dangerous unless consumed in very large quantities. Processed foods of course contain insane amounts of sodium, and they are bad for you for a zillion reasons. But if you generally eat real foods, you don’t need to worry much about salt. (ScienceDaily)
• Exercise linked to improved mental health, but more may not always be better – Don’t be obsessive, but the optimal amount of exercise for wellbeing is still quite a bit more than most people get. (ScienceDaily)
• Dear Mark: Is Farmed Salmon Worth Eating? – A nice reminder that perfection doesn’t always need to be what’s for dinner. (Mark’s Daily Apple)
• ‘Fat-burning’ foods and other scientific-sounding nutritional trickery – Yup. (Washington Post)
• Why Sitting May Be Bad for Your Brain – One more part of you sitting is bad for. (NY Times)
• Burmese Style Vegan Coconut Curry with Cauliflower – A delicious looking curry (with some baby pics thrown in for good measure LOL). (Snixy Kitchen)

What inspired you this week?